Midwife Dana’s marathon effort for charity

A midwife who describes herself as ‘not a runner’ will take on the London Marathon next year to raise money for East Kent Hospitals Charity.

Dana Jensen works in the Singleton Unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, a midwife-led unit where people with low-risk pregnancies can deliver their babies.

The 28 year old was inspired to enter the ballot for the 26.2-mile event after seeing colleague Sarah Sutton complete it last year, and hopes to achieve a time of around five and a half hours.

She said: “I am very much not a runner, although my fiancé Charlie is and runs competitively.

“He was looking to take up more long-distance running so he decided to enter the ballot and I thought I would give it a go too.

“He didn’t get a place but I did and then it suddenly all became real!”

Dana had not run since school, but Charlie helped create a training plan and joined her on some of the runs.

She said: “He was very excited for me and has been really supportive

“I am a bit of a fair-weather runner – if it’s pouring with rain I will stay indoors, but obviously if it’s raining on the day I’ll still have to run.

“I’m fitting in two or three training runs a week around my shifts, and my goal was to be at 10km before Christmas. I didn’t think I would be able to that but I’ve already reached that so the next step is to make it to a half marathon distance.”

Dana is hoping to raise £500 for the charity, to be spend on projects benefiting staff and patients of the unit where she works.

She said: “I see how much the charity does to support our hospitals and there is always more to do so it made sense to try and raise as much as I can.

“I know the money will be put to good use and it helps to motivate me during the training.

“Sometimes I do wonder why I thought running a marathon would be a good idea but not many people can say they have done that and it will be a real achievement for me.”

You can add to Dana’s sponsorship at https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/dana-jensen-a6101